Fbedeeick walton



UNrTen STATES PATENT 'iTrce.

FREDERICK WALTON, OF TWIOKENHAM, COUNTY OF MIDDLESEX, ENGLAND.

MANUFACTURE OF MACHINE-BELTENG.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 234,360, dated November 9, 1880.

Application filed September 17. 1880. (No model.) Patented in England May 2, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK WALTON, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, residing at Heatham House, Twickenham, in

the county of Middlesex, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Manufacture of Belting for Driving Machinery and for other Purposes, (for which I have received Letters Patent in England, No. 1,737, dated May 2, 1879 and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of belting for driving machinery and for other purposes.

Belts have heretofore been made in a variety of ways-amon g others, by cutting strips from leather hides and cementing several plies of cotton fabric together with india-rubber or gutta-percha. Oxidized oil has also been employed in their manufacture. (See, for instance, English Patent No. 2,367 of 1863.

My invention relates to certain improvements, as hereinafter claimed, involving the application to the manufacture of machinery bands or belting of compounds containing solidified oil, by preference boiled linseed-oil oxidized until solid by exposure to the air or rendered semi-solid by continuous boiling at a high temperature.

I employ a woven fabric, such as stout cotton duck, and I prepare the fabric by priming its surface with a composition of the following materials, viz: Oxidized oil, ten parts; kauri gum, two parts; rosin, one part; tur-' pentine or coal-naphtha as solvent. The solvent is employed in such proportion that a thick treacle-like composition is obtained. A small proportion of ocher may also, with advantage,be added. In order to spread this composition onto the duck or fabric, the apparatus well known as a knife-spreader may conveniently be employed. The composition is so applied as to form a thin film, and both the sides of the fabric are coated. I then take two fabrics thus prepared and with the priming upon them still in a somewhat soft and adhesive state, and I combine or connect the two fabrics together by means of a composition of the following ingredients Oxidized oil, twenty parts; kauri gum, three parts, rosin, one part; ocher or other dry color, twenty parts unslaked lime, one-half part. These materials arethoroughly mixed and worked together to a state suited for rolling. If the mixture should prove a little hard, it may be softened by the addition of a small quantity of semi-oxidized oil, or preferably of a littlecoal-naphtha or turpentine. I pass the two prepared fabrics together between a pair of rollers set at a suitable distance spart, leading one fabric around one of the rollers and the other around the other roller. The composition is placed between the fabrics at the nip of the rolls, and as the rollers revolve, being drawn in with the fabric, it forms a thin connecting-layer between the fabrics of the thickness, say, of a stout card.

The composition may be rendered more adhesive, if desired, by the addition of a further quantityof rosin. This double fabric is divided into strips of the width to form a driviug-beltsay three, four, or more inches. I then proceed to inclose each strip in a wrapper of about three times its width. The wrapper consists of a duck fabric primed and coated on both sides, as above described, except that, in preparing the composition for the surface which is to form the exterior of the driving-belt, I substitute shellac for rosin.

A convenient way in which to apply the coating is by the use of a pair of rollers in the manner already described, but with a wetted cloth passed around one of them. The composition having been rolled between the two cloths, the wet one is stripped off, which can be done without difficulty, the moisture preventing adhesion. While the composition is in a semi-dry state, both upon the double strip and upon the wrapperfl pass the two together between a pair of pressing-rollers, which causes them to adhere. Then, by suitable inclines fixed in front of the rollers, I cause the edges of the wrapper to be turned over so as completely to envelop the strip. The strip and wrapper then pass together through a rectangular mouth-piece of suitable dimensions, and immediately beyond they are pressed by asecond pair of rolls, which combines the whole, making the wrapper to adhere firmly around the double strip within. The belt as l. dered French chalk is made use of to prevent it is thus produced is rolled up loosely. Powsticking. In this state the belts are passed into a stove heated to about 110 to 120 Fahrenheit, and they are kept there for thirtysix hours or more, until the composition is sufficiently hardened.

I afterward finish the driving belts by stretching them while hot and cooling them when in the distended state, and in the same machine in which this is done I mold and impart a finished appearance to the surfaces and edges. For these purposes I pass the belt around a steam-heated roller and through a heated space or chamber, by which the composition is rendered soft. The roller is grooved to fit the belt, which is laid in the groove three-quarters around the roller, and the belt is nipped and held in the groove by other small rollers. The belt, which is heated and softened by passing around the heated roller and through the heated space or chamber, next passes in a similar manner around a second grooved roller like the first, but which is kept coldit may be by the application of water or otherwise. This second roller is driven, and by it the belt is drawn, through the machine, the first or steam-heated roller being held by a brake, so that the belt is ex.- posed to a considerable strain, and the strain can be regulated to suit the strength of the belt under treatment. The belt leaves the rollers in a finished form.

India-rubber may be mixed in the compositions; but I prefer to employ the ingredients I have named without this admixture.

In some cases I use lighter cotton or linen cloths, and in place of three or four plies I combine six or seven together by rolling the composition between them and split the same into suitable widths.

In place of folding the strips in a covering, as previously described, I give them a thick coating of oxidized oil-varnish combined with a suitable color, and when this has been thor- 1 oughly dried and hardened in a steam-oven I pass the belt through my stretching-rolls and produce a fine molded appearance on the belt.

In some cases I sew the belt on each edge previously to dressing and stretching the same; but as a rule I prefer to trust to the tenacity of the composition to hold the plies securely. I also in some cases sew the belts with soft copper or other wire by means of a strong card-setting machine. The staples, being set, are turned over and forced below the surface of the fabric, which is afterward dressed with composition and finished in the machine.

Having thus described the nature of my said invention and the manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not broadly claim the use of oxidized oil in the manufacture of driving-belts; but

I do claim as my own invention- As an improvement in the manufacture of driving-belts by treatment with compounds containing oxidized or solidified oil, the hereinbefore-described method of preparing the fabrics by priming or thinly coating both sides of them with the preparatory composition of oxidized oil and other ingredients, such as and about in the proportions stated, then combining or connecting such prepared fabrics by passing them between rollers with another composition of oxidized oil and other ingredients, such as and about in the propor tions stated, interposed between the fabrics, dividing them into strips, covering or coating them, and hardening and finishing by subjecting them to moderate heat, (say 110 to 120 Fahrenheit,) for about a day and a half, or more, stretching them while hot, and cooling them in their distended condition, substantially as hereinbefore set forth.

London, 1st day of September, 1880.

FRED. \VALTON. Witnesses:

CHAS. BERKLEY HARRIS, G. W. WnsTLnY, Both of 17 Gracechm'ch Street, London. 

